Category: Egypt

Accumulation On A World Scale

Post author By afrikanseries
Post date July 2, 2020
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Samir Amin has undertaken an ambitious task: nothing less than an analysis of the process of capital accumulation on a global level. Drawing on a wide range of empirical material from Africa and the Middle East, Amin attempts to demonstrate, through a critique of writings on “underdevelopment,” how accumulation in advanced capitalist countries prevents development, however that may be defined, within the peripheral social formations, usually referred to as “underdeveloped” countries. Samir Amin ranks among those who realize the necessity not merely to comprehend the growing crisis of world capitalism, as it manifests itself within individual nation states, but also at the world level.

All the men I did get to know, every single one of them, has filled me with but one desire: to lift my hand and bring it smashing down on his face. But because I am a woman, I have never had the courage to lift my hand. And because I am a prostitute, I hid my fear under layers of make-up.’
So begins Firdaus’ story, leading to her grimy Cairo prison cell, where she welcomes her death sentence as a relief from her pain and suffering. Born to a peasant family in the Egyptian countryside, Firdaus suffered a childhood of cruelty and neglect. Her passion for education was ignored by her family, and on leaving school she was forced to marry a much older man.
Following her escapes from violent relationships, she finally met Sharifa, who told her that ‘a man does not know a woman’s value; the higher you price yourself, the more he will realise what you are really worth’ and led her into a life of prostitution. Desperate and alone, she took drastic action.

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Zayni Barakat

The Egypt of the Mamluk dynasty witnessed a period of artistic ostentation and social and political upheaval, at the heart of which lay the unsolved question of the ruler’s legitimacy. Now, in 1516, the Mamluk reign is coming to an end with the advance of the invading Ottomans. The numerous narrators, among them a Venetian traveler and several native Muslims, tell the story of the rise to power of the ruthless, enigmatic, and puritanical governor of Cairo, Zayni Barakat ibn Musa, whose control of the corrupt city is effected only through a complicated network of spies and informers.

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The Cairo Trilogy

The Cairo Trilogy is a panoramic three-part work written to explain the sensitivity and mentality of the people who
lived in Cairo from the 1900s to the 1940s. Palace walk (1990), Palace of desire (1991) and Sugar street (1992) each
gives a rich description of their daily lives while portraying a wider historical process.